Made it yesterday to great acclaim! As Audeo knows, I cheated and used pinot noir instead of white wine, otherwise followed her recipe faithfully.

Altho we slurped almost every bit of it down, in the future I will probably use smaller or fewer onions to boost the juice-to-onion ratio, and will cut back on the cider and add more beef stock. Matter of personal preference - it was slightly sweeter than we wanted.

Good heavens, what a relief! I'm not a fan of sweet, myself (with the exception of coconut cream pie rarely consumed). I certainly agree on your plan to sub more stock -- makes sense to me. When I make the stuff, it never rings as sweet here. Hmmm.... I wonder if it is because of my preference in Chardonay (real dry) and a cider that is also not on the sweet side?

Slice the onions into half rings. In a large cast iron skillet, preheated over medium heat, place the butter and melt, then add a third of the onions and sprinkle with salt. Repeat layering onions and salt until all onions are in the skillet. Do not try stirring until onions have sweated down for 15 to 20 minutes. After that, stir occasionally until onions are dark mahogany and reduced to approximately 2 cups. (This takes about 45 minutes to 1 hour.)

Cut country bread in rounds large enough to fit mouth of oven safe soup crocks. Place the slices on a baking sheet and place under broiler for 1 minute, or until toasted.

Season soup mixture with salt, pepper and scotch. Ladle the soup into crocks leaving one inch to the lip of the bowl. Into each bowl, place a bread round (toasted side down) on top of the soup and top the bread generously with grated gruyere. Return to the broiler and broil until the cheese is bubbly and golden, 1 to 2 minutes.